Blue Monday Blues

Hardware issues from last year re-manifesting in the main system, causing much difficulties around here. Posting might get a bit sporadic for a bit. Fortunately, i access the net through an ancient laptop, so we can still get a quickie post up for today's Blue Monday in our adult content back room.

We've got a trio of odds & ends that were in the digital pile - a set of plates from  D. Bruce Berry, whom i know best from his work inking Jack Kirby during his DC time in the 70s. These come to us from the Weirdbook zine back in '79. Following that, a brief History Of Art by Roy Lartigue from 1960's 7 11 magazine. (Whether Roy is a name, or a title for a more well-known Latrigue, i've yet to find time to ascertain) And lastly, Choice Cuts - a short piece by Cary Bates and Russ Heath coming to us from Vampirella 40 years ago.
Here are 4 of the 6 portfolio plates from Berry -

The other two plates, and other two features, may be viewed in the full version of this post on The Other Voice Of ODD!

 pages from Weirdbook #14, 7 11 (March'60), and Vampirella #67 (1960, 1978, 1979)

Vamping Without The Vamp

For today's Blue Monday post in our adult content back room, we've got a trio of tales from Vampirella magazine back in the '70s. We've got some folks you might not be used to seeing work together - like Jim Starlin & Alex Nino, and some you might not be used to seeing do 'blue' material at all - like Carmine Infantino (with inks by Alfredo Alcala). Those old Warren magazines hid a lot of odd little treasures like that for those who ventured off the path of the mainstream colour comics in those days.

To view the artwork, please follow the link to the full post on The Other Voice Of ODD!

Brother Hawk by Nicola Cuti, Carmine Infantino & Alex Nino for Vampirella #61, Wolf Hunt by Joe Wehrle & Esteban Maroto for Vampirella #74, The Service by Bruce Jones, Jim Starlin & Alfredo Alcala for Vampirella #78

Blue Monday - Climax

 Welcome back.
How'd you like that lovely Beauty & The Beast piece at the top of Maroto's blog page?
You did go look, right?

Okay, you were promised another story, so let's start there. This tale, like the previous trio, comes from Vampirella, because - Blue Monday. Previously we had a tale in the "tradition of Scheherazade" by Bill Dubay & Esteban Maroto. I believe the same team brings us this tale, but the writer goes uncredited, so it's hard to be certain. The other big question: Is this Maroto's colours?


NOTE: Most of the images for this post contain nudity and have been moved to our back room for adult content. The text remains that you may make a fair guess as to whether or not you wish to look at the pics.
Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive of the original post to view the artwork.


...or until the next writer decided otherwise.
Finally, for today, we have another half-dozen images by our esteemed subject. We'll start with a bit of black & white line work, and climb up the ladder to full paintings:

If i wasn't already an Edgar Rice Burroughs fan, this might get me to buy Tarzan's books:

We've seen Maroto drawing other famous characters, but he also is prone to creating tributes to other artists, such as this piece honoring/homaging Milo Manara:

...and these two paintings in tribute to Jose Segrelles:

This last piece is a little special for a sad reason. The original has been damaged; the canvas scraped and flecked to white in places. Here is a semi-restored version. (No reference of the undamaged version available for full restoration)

*sigh*
A fitting end to this piece.

all art by Maroto. Pages from Vampirella #72 (1978)

Odd how things work. I decided to push my planned subject back a week due to the amount of work required to try to cover things a tad more than her costume. So i pulled some pages that were in the pile and decided this would be good. And then things started spiraling...
In the end, i suspect it would have been less effort to go with my original plan. The only way this is going to work is if we make this a multi-part

You see, my plan was just to run a few ... sort of fairy tale interpretations, illustrated by Esteban Maroto. But then there was that fourth colour tale. And when digging for a few biographical notes, all these damn beautiful pictures kept getting in the way. So, forget it. I'm not going to agonize over what to not use, i'm just going to spread things out into 3 posts over the day.

Anybody who was a fan of Warren's main magazines back in the 70s and 80s knows who Esteban Maroto is. But, while he produced a goodly amount of work in this country (over 100 stories for Warren alone), he only worked with DC and Marvel briefly, usually on a mini-series here and there. So many fans may not be familiar with his beautifully rendered work. Which isn't to say he didn't leave lasting marks while briefly passing through. For example, he designed her iconic outfit-

NOTE: Most of the images for this post contain nudity and have been moved to our back room for adult content. The text remains that you may make a fair guess as to whether or not you wish to look at the pics.
Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive of the original post to view the artwork.

Like it or love it, it's hard to deny the impact her chainmail bikini had on designs in the decades to follow.

But we'll talk more extensively about Señor Maroto later in the day. For now, let's start with those first three tales to which i referred previously. Two tales written by Bill Dubay, and a third by Timothy Moriarity.

First up, a tale in the tradition of Scheherazade, of a bold adventurer by the name of Ali Addan...



From Arabian tales, we travel to the classic Greek myths, and Perseus-



 Continuing on, we travel to the Danish coast and the story of a Little Mermaid-



All three of these tales appeared in Her magazine-

Here are the covers for those who enjoy them, or want a visual reference for hunting down the issues:

Join us later today for a colour tale, and more about the man and his lovely artwork. After all, you wouldn't want to bypass a man who still remembers Rima, The Jungle Girl, would you?

I know i wouldn't.

all art by Esteban Maroto, story pages for Vampirella #s 60, 68, & 102 (1977, 1978, 1982)

Strange Things Are Afoot In Wyldwood Cemetary

cover by Sanjulian

On Sunday i teased a faded image beyond the mists of time showing an encounter most odd. Plainly visible in the first page splash is our heroine, the scantily clad Vampirella and the headstone of Denny Colt - the Spirit! And to dispel any suspicions of mere name similarity, the gate of Wildwood Cemetery is plainly visible in the background.

But, perhaps you exclaim, how could this be possible? Could they get the rights to use the Spirit?
You betch'um, Red Rider. At this point in time, Warren was not only publishing reprints of The Spirit, but Will Eisner himself was editing the book for them. Many things were possible.

I'll be honest, i'd completely forgotten this strange little story from the 50th issue of Vampirella. Add in a Pantha girl or two, ancient Egyptians, the mystery of the pyramids and a blackmarket baby operation run by Granny Goose, and you've got a packed full 50th issue extravaganza.
And it's a big one, so unbuckle-up and here we go!

Our story opens with the previously teased splash page-

NOTE: Due to restructuring of this blog,

pages containing (mild) nudity have been moved to our back room for adult content.

Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive

of the original post to view the artwork.

After that first chapter to set the tale, we shift to find Conrad Van Helsing suffering bloody visions in the night:

NOTE: Due to restructuring of this blog,

pages containing (mild) nudity have been moved to our back room for adult content.

Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive

of the original post to view the artwork.

Note that in the tradition of the classic tales like early Justice Society Of America adventures, each chapter is drawn by a different artist, and frequently features different members of the cast. After Conrad shares his premonitions with Vampi and his son, Adam, the pair head off to seek information from Nubia El Marna - yet another in his global web of informants and mystics. Specifically, they need to learn more about the amulet she acquired as Conrad feels it is at the center of things...

NOTE: Due to restructuring of this blog,

pages containing (mild) nudity have been moved to our back room for adult content.

Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive

of the original post to view the artwork.

She tells them of how the Pharaoh Khufu one day rescued a mysterious stranger, to whom he gave the name Khafra. Kahfra was a shapeshifter from the stars and original owner of the amulet. He constructed the great pyramid of Khufu, and his own, as well and began construction on a third for his successor. "Khafra wished the three pyramids placed in a line, so, he claimed, the great gods could see that the people of Egypt had not forgotten them!"

That night, after all have settled to bed and sleep...

NOTE: Due to restructuring of this blog,

pages containing (mild) nudity have been moved to our back room for adult content.

Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive

of the original post to view the artwork.

Meanwhile, in New York City, our next chapter begins...

While the opening circumstances may seem to have little bearing on our tale, the conversations turn back to Wildwood...

While Conrad seeks the Spirit of Denny Colt, Vampir & Adam arrive just in time to see their contact kidnapped and quickly pursue. Tracking the kidnappers to their lair, they find the hostages about to be shot. Adam uses the amulet to join with Vampi as...

"For as long as there has been recorded time, this amulet has graced the throats of a noble family. A family that was spawned by Khafra, Pharaoh, Healer, and Star-Traveler."
She explains that the power to shift to panther form is bread into their genetics, but the amulet is required to assuage the shock, preventing mental damage and insanity. Tracing the vibrations, she determines that the last descendant is a girl in Egypt, and sends the pair off again on her trail.
The next chapter had no credits on the splash page, so we'll jump straight into the action as Vampi seeks our missing girl. But first, let's meet her next contacts:

Vampi arrives soon after, and the meeting proceeds as a typical courteous brush-off until...

Not at all suspicious behaviour, eh? Unsurprisingly, Vampi returns surreptitiously in aerial rodent form to find-

After the messy bits, the amulet is returned and her memory restored - including her recollection of having been sold by Granny Goose! With the shock and horror of all that has happened to her, Pantha decides to leave this miserable world and return to her own. It turns out she was found with her own craft, which is still accessible...

With Pantha's mystery solved, we break tradition from those old JSA stories - the entire team does not reunite for the final chapter, at last delving into the question of

And, so, in the end - no Spirit in this world. But a delightfully odd intersection between two realities.

story by Bill Dubay, art by Jose Gonzales, Esteban Maroto, Ramon Torrents, and Jose Ortiz for  Vampirella #50 (1976)

The Japanese get all the blame

Oh, sure - they may have given Hentai a name, popularized it, and ... well, let's just say they added the in-womb cameras and leave at that, eh?

But, the basic elements were around before that happened. Urotsukidoji and La Blue Girl were at the tip of the cultural tentacle that so wetly slithered into our national consciousness and wrapped tight around the fap centers of some. That was back in 1989 - 40 years in just a couple more. By that point, however, it was somewhat familiar territory for me. Often as not, that territory was mapped by comics.
Let's go back a decade & a half before that tentacle came oozing on over - back to 1975.

The remainder of this post, featuring a breakdown of The Nameless Ravisher tale in Vampirella #40, has been moved to our Back Room due to adult content. Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive of the original post.

...

And now you know - Adult rated content isn't limited to Blue Monday, that's merely a regularly scheduled dose.

The Nameless Ravager by Flaxman Loew & Leopold Sanchez, from Vampirella #40(1975)